Childhood hunger experiences were associated with adverse health outcomes in older Brazilian adults: Evidence from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil)

We aimed to assess whether childhood hunger experiences are associated with adverse health outcomes in old age. A cross-sectional study was conducted using data from the second wave of the ELSI-Brazil (2019-2021). Childhood hunger was assessed by the following question: "From birth until you were 15 years old, have you ever had a lack of food in your home and ended up going to bed feeling hungry?". Outcomes were obesity, multimorbidity, limitation in basic activities of daily living (BADLs), frailty, cognitive impairment, and depressive symptoms. Logistic regression was used in data analysis. The prevalence of childhood hunger experiences was 23.6%. After adjustments, having experienced hunger in childhood was significantly associated with higher odds of multimorbidity (OR=1.17; 95%CI=1.01-1.35), limitation in BADLs (OR=1.39; 95%CI=1.03-1.87), frailty (OR=1.35; 95%CI=1.03-1.77), and depressive symptoms (OR=1.42; 95%CI=1.15-1.76). These findings suggest the necessity for public policies to ensure adequate childhood nutrition to promote healthy aging in future generations.